New Freshman Dormitory to Open on Time; Final Completion Will Come Later in the Fall

Harvard's new freshman dormitory, Canaday Hall, will be ready to house incoming freshmen in September despite technical problems that will present final completion of the building until later in the fall.

Richard G. Leahy, associate dean of the Faculty for resources and planning, said yesterday that mechanical equipment damaged last month when a water main broke near the dorm has not yet been replaced. As a result, the heating and ventilation systems will not be completed in September, Leahy said.

Furniture will be moved into Canaday during the last two weeks of August, but neither exterior work, such as asphalt paving and landscaping, nor basement work will be finished by the time freshmen arrive for orientation week, August Sartucci, project supervisor in the planning office, said yesterday.

Sartucci added that the planning office has not yet decided the location for yard fencing around the dormitory.

Leahy said that the University has had difficulty in obtaining bedroom doors for the building, but Sartucci said yesterday that the doors would be shipped sometime next week.

"Basically, we should be pretty much done and out of there when the freshmen show up. There might be some touch and go delivery items, but right now it's go. We've monitored the situation daily and don't foresee any real problems, Sartucci said yesterday.

When the building was under construction last winter during the crunch of the energy shortage, concern mounted over possible delays in the dormitory's completion. Precautionary plans were made to house only Boston-area freshmen who could commute to Harvard if the dorm could not be ready in time.

Since the proposed completion date for student occupancy will be met, the freshman housing office has assigned a complete geographical mix of about 140 men and 60 women to live in the dorm, Richard Gula, senior adviser to freshmen, said yesterday.

Students living in Canaday, which stands on the old Hunt Hall site, will be assigned to the all-women entry, the co-ed entry, or one of the all-male entries, according to their preferences, Gula said.